This invention relates to a package for the storage of cable and it particularly relates to the storage of a large quantity of insulated multi-strand cable, such as telephone cable, on large storage reels.
Traditionally, cable, such as telephone cable, has been stored on large reels comprising a core and a pair of spaced parallel flanges. When the desired amount of cable has been wound around the core and between the flanges in the cable storage space of the reel, the outer exposed layer of the wound cable must be protected. This has generally been accomplished by placing rigid wood slats, such as two-by-fours, in side-by-side relationship, in the space between the outer periphery of each of the flanges in order to cover and protect the cable. The two-by-fours are normally rigidly strapped into place. This construction, sometimes called "lag" or "lagging", is generally considered to be an effective protective barrier for the cable, but the package or covering is considered expensive from the standpoint of both labor and material.
In order to overcome some of the disadvantages of the conventional "lagging" cable protection, as discussed above, it is to be realized that it is primarily the cable insulation that must be protected. In order to properly protect the insulation material on the cable, the exterior protective covering or "lagging" must be highly resistant to exterior forces, as from a heavy foreign object, such as another cable reel, damaging the insulation. It is important that the covering should prevent a foreign object from striking the cable insulation, so as to cause damage thereto. The cover material should also have some yield so that its inner surface will conform to the covered outer layers of cable on the reel so as to distribute the force of the impact from the foreign object, over a relatively large surface area of the insulation. The material must be sufficiently flexible so as to be wrapped around the cable on the reel at a radius of as little as 18 inches, as when the reel is not full, to a 4 foot radius, when the reel is full.
One newer type of protective material for cable generally comprises separate pieces of rigid foam plastic mounted on a fiber material which is wrapped around the reel. The material is then strapped in place. Although this protective material has been relatively successful, such a material is expensive and it is difficult to achieve a consistently satisfactory product because of hand operations required in gluing or sewing individual pieces of foam plastic together onto the fiber material.